Mahavana, aka: Mahāvana, Maha-vana; 7 Definition(s)

Introduction

Mahavana means something in Buddhism, Pali, Hinduism, Sanskrit, the history of ancient India. If you want to know the exact meaning, history, etymology or English translation of this term then check out the descriptions on this page. Add your comment or reference to a book if you want to contribute to this summary article.

In Hinduism

Ayurveda (science of life)

Mahāvana (महावन) refers to a “big forest” according to the second chapter (dharaṇyādi-varga) of the 13th-century Raj Nighantu or Rājanighaṇṭu (an Ayurvedic encyclopedia). The Dharaṇyādi-varga covers the lands, soil, mountains, jungles [viz., Mahāvana] and vegetation’s relations between trees and plants and substances, with their various kinds.

Āyurveda (आयुर्वेद, ayurveda) is a branch of Indian science dealing with medicine, herbalism, taxology, anatomy, surgery, alchemy and related topics. Traditional practice of Āyurveda in ancient India dates back to at least the first millenium BC. Literature is commonly written in Sanskrit using various poetic metres.

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In Buddhism

Theravada (major branch of Buddhism)

1. Mahavana. A wood near Vesali. It was partly
natural, partly man made, and extended up to the Himalaya (MA.i.298; DA.i.309).
See Kutagarasala.

2. Mahavana. The wood near Kapilavatthu, it was
virgin forest, and reached from the edge of Kapilavatthu to the Himalaya on one
side and to the sea on the other (MA.i.298, 449). In this wood was preached the
Mahasamaya Sutta (for details see Mahasamaya) and also the Madhupindika Sutta
(q.v.).

3. Mahavana. A forest on the outskirts of
Uruvelakappa, where the Buddha retired for his noonday rest after his meal at
Uruvelakappa. It was in that grove that Ananda took Tapussa to see him.
A.iv.437f.

4. Mahavana. A forest on the banks of the Neranjara.
DhA.i.86; DhSA.34, etc.; J.i.77.

Theravāda is a major branch of Buddhism having the the Pali canon (tipitaka) as their canonical literature, which includes the vinaya-pitaka (monastic rules), the sutta-pitaka (Buddhist sermons) and the abhidhamma-pitaka (philosophy and psychology).

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Mahayana (major branch of Buddhism)

Mahāvana (महावन) is the name of a stoppig-place, or vihāra located at Vaiśālī, according to the 2nd century Mahāprajñāpāramitāśāstra chapter V. Note: Vaiśālī is the present-day Resarch on the Gandaki, in the district of Muzafferpur in Tirhut. Its main monastery was the Kūṭāgāraśālā “Hall of the Belvedere”, described at length in Sumaṅgala, I; Papañca, II. But whereas the Pāli texts locate it in the Mahāvana “Large Forest”. The Sanskrit texts place it on the Markaṭahradatīra “Shore of the Monkey Pool”.

Mahayana (महायान, mahāyāna) is a major branch of Buddhism focusing on the path of a Bodhisattva (spiritual aspirants/ enlightened beings). Extant literature is vast and primarely composed in the Sanskrit language. There are many sūtras of which some of the earliest are the various Prajñāpāramitā sūtras.

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Mahāvana (महावन) is the name of an ancient forest that once existed near Uruvelakappa in Malla: one of the sixteen Mahājanapadas of the Majjhimadesa (Middle Country) of ancient India, as recorded in the Pāli Buddhist texts (detailing the geography of ancient India as it was known in to Early Buddhism).—The Mallaraṭṭha or Mallārāṣṭra has been mentioned in the Aṅguttara Nikāya as one of the sixteen Mahājanapadas. The kingdom was divided into two parts which had for their capitals the cities of Kusāvati or Kusīnārā and Pāvā identical probably with Kasia (on the smaller Gondak and in the east of the Gorakhpur district) and a village named Padaraona (12 miles to the north-east of Kasia) respectively. Besides Kusīnārā, the Mallas had other important cities namely, Bhoganagara, Anupiya and Uruvelakappa in the neighbourhood of which there existed a wide forest called Mahāvana.

Mahāvana is at Kapilavatthu. According to Buddhaghosa, it is a natural forest outside the town of Vaisālī lying in one stretch up to the Himalayas. It is so called on account of the large area covered by it.

The history of India traces the identification of countries, villages, towns and other regions of India, as well as royal dynasties, rulers, tribes, local festivities and traditions and regional languages. Ancient India enjoyed religious freedom and encourages the path of Dharma, a concept common to Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism.

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Sanskrit, also spelled संस्कृतम् (saṃskṛtam), is an ancient language of India commonly seen as the grandmother of the Indo-European language family. Closely allied with Prakrit and Pali, Sanskrit is more exhaustive in both grammar and terms and has the most extensive collection of literature in the world, greatly surpassing its sister-languages Greek and Latin.

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